How To Reset And Repair Your Gut Microbiome For Weight Loss And Mental Health

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Eat This To Heal Your Gut

On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, I’m sharing how to repair and reset your gut microbiome for weight loss and mental health.

To save you time, I’ve included jump links to all the questions and answers in the table of contents below.

Table Of Contents: Jump To Links

Microbiome vs Microbiota: Meaning And Definition

Thanks to the popular Netflix microbiome documentary called “Hack Your Health: The Secrets Of Your Gut” and various Ted Talk’s, the importance of a healthy gut microbiome is now in the mainstream.

The microbiome refers to the entire ecosystem of microorganisms, including the bacteria, fungi, and viruses living in and on your body, along with their genetic material.

The microbiota refers specifically to the community of these microorganisms themselves, like the bacteria in your gut.

In other words, think of the microbiome as the environment or house and the microbiota as the inhabitants that live there.

Microbiome Gut Health Benefits

How does your gut microbiome impact your overall health?

Your microbiome is crucial for maintaining your body’s homeostasis to optimize:

• Weight loss
• Mental health
• Overall well being

A healthy gut microbiome supports digestion, immune function, and nutrient absorption, while also influencing mood, mental health, and inflammation.

An unhealthy gut microbiome is often caused by:

• Poor diet
• Stress
• Antibiotics

This can lead to digestive issues, weakened immunity, and increased inflammation, and potentially contributes to conditions of anxiety, depression, and autoimmune diseases.

Microbiome Detox: Cleanse Your Microbiome With The Microbiome Diet

How do you detox and cleanse your microbiome?

Following a Microbiome Diet may help detox and cleanse your microbiome to improve gut health.

It does this by focusing on microbiome friendly foods that support the growth of beneficial bacteria and eliminate the harmful ones, thus enhancing digestion, immunity, and overall well-being.

Eat This To Heal Your Gut

1. Increase fiber intake by eating more fiber-rich foods including vegetables, fruits, and whole grains to feed beneficial gut bacteria.
2. Incorporate fermented foods including yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut that contain probiotics to support a diverse microbiome.
3. Bone broth offers collagen and amino acids that help repair the gut lining.
4. Prebiotics found in foods including garlic, onions, and bananas, to feed good bacteria for overall gut health.
5. Healthy fats from olive oil, avocados, and nuts to reduce inflammation.
6. Minimize processed foods including sugars and artificial sweeteners, which can promote harmful bacteria and harm gut health.

To Help Detox Your Microbiome:

1. Take high quality probiotics: Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium help replenish beneficial microbes.
2. Stay hydrated: Water helps maintain healthy digestion and microbiome balance.
3. Reduce stress: Chronic stress can negatively affect gut health, therefore stress-reducing techniques like mindfulness or exercise can support a healthy microbiome.

Why The Microbiome Diet May Not Work For You

Here’s the major issue with just blindly consuming all the foods listed in the Microbiome Diet.

Even though fiber-rich foods, fermented foods, and prebiotics generally promote a healthy gut microbiome, all of these foods do not improve gut health for everyone.

Microbiome gut health can vary based on individual factors like:

1. Your Unique Gut Composition: Each person’s microbiome is unique, so foods that benefit one person may not have the same effect on another. For example, kale is not approved for 88% of people tested.
2. Food Sensitivities or Intolerances: Some people may be sensitive to certain microbiome-friendly foods, like dairy in fermented products or high-fiber foods, which could lead to digestive discomfort.
3. Health Conditions: Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), or other gut disorders may require specific dietary adjustments, as some microbiome-boosting foods may exacerbate symptoms.

Following a personalized approach that keeps your specific gut health needs in mind is key to improving your microbiome gut health.

To help you specifically tailor the best microbiome friendly foods designed for your unique gut microbiome, I recommend you first take a microbiome test, like the one provided by today’s video sponsor, Viome.

Viome Microbiome Test Kit Review

https://www.liveleantv.com/viomeViome is an awesome at-home microbiome test that helps you take control of your body and get personalized nutrition and supplement recommendations.

Before I started using Viome, I was blindly following a “microbiome diet food list” from a random blog post in hopes it would reduce my bloating and improve my gut health.

However, once I realized that we all have a unique gut microbiome, and not all microbiome friendly foods works have the same effect on everyone, I tried a few different microbiome test kits.

Viome uses RNA microbiome sequencing to reveal what your gut microbes are actively doing, thus offering a more accurate picture of your current gut health and data driven and evidence based personalized recommendations on how to improve it.

For example, did you know that 49% of people who take Viome’s test find out that broccoli is actually a food their body should avoid?

Plus, you’ll find out your “biological age” to compare to your actual chronological age.

In other words, if your body’s aging faster than it should, Viome will let you know.

So instead of waiting months to see if a certain diet works, Viome makes it easy.

Just take the test, and in 2-3 weeks, you’ll get your results straight to the app.

And here’s a special deal for you, Viome is offering $110 off your test:

Just head to tryviome.com/livelean and use the code livelean.

Microbiome And Weight Loss

How does the microbiome affect weight loss and do certain gut bacteria cause weight loss?

The microbiome affects weight loss by influencing digestion, metabolism, and fat storage.

Certain gut bacteria help break down food efficiently, regulate hunger hormones, and balance energy absorption.

Research suggests individuals with a higher ratios of specific gut bacteria in their gut tend to have better weight management.

Balancing your gut microbiome can significantly influence weight management, fat metabolism, and overall health.

Gut Bacteria That Impacts Weight Loss:

• Bacteroidetes: Are linked to lower body fat as they are associated with more efficient digestion of dietary fiber and reduced calorie absorption.
• Firmicutes: When the ratio of this gut bacteria is higher, it potentially contributes to weight gain as it helps absorb more calories from food.
• Akkermansia muciniphila: Known to improve fat metabolism, reduce inflammation, and support a healthy gut lining, which improves fat metabolism thus helping with weight loss.
• Lactobacillus gasseri: Has been shown in studies to help reduce fat storage, particularly visceral fat, which is linked to improved body composition and lower obesity risk.

Microbiome And Mental Health

How does the microbiome influence mental health, including anxiety and depression?

The microbiome influences mental health, including anxiety and depression, through the gut-brain axis, a communication system linking the gut and brain.

This research shows that an imbalance in gut bacteria, known as dysbiosis, can lead to inflammation and disrupt neurotransmitter production, including serotonin, which regulates mood.

A healthy microbiome, enriched by fiber, probiotics, and fermented foods, helps reduce inflammation and promote the production of mood-regulating chemicals.

Studies also show that gut health plays a key role in the stress response, with imbalanced gut bacteria potentially increasing anxiety and depressive symptoms.

It suggests that specific probiotics, prebiotics, and other dietary components can help manage these disorders by modulating gut microbiota.

Conclusion

A healthy gut supports digestion, reduces inflammation, enhances mental health, and boosts metabolism, aiding in sustainable weight loss.

To reset and repair your gut microbiome for weight loss and mental health, focus on:

1. Diet: Eat more of the fiber-rich foods, fermented foods, and prebiotics to support beneficial bacteria, while minimizing processed foods and sugar.
2. Hydration: Drink plenty of water to help with digestion and microbiome balance.
3. Probiotics: Add high quality probiotics to replenish beneficial bacteria.
4. Stress Management: Practice mindfulness, exercise, or relaxation techniques to reduce stress, which negatively impacts gut health.
5. Sleep: Prioritize quality sleep to allow your gut to recover and restore balance.

Question Of The Day

Let me know in the comments:

• What’s one thing you plan to try to improve your gut health after learning about the microbiome?
• Have you ever considered taking a microbiome test to personalize your diet and supplements? Why or why not?

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If you made it to the end of this post, don’t stop your learning now, go check out this post where I share My Viome Full Body Intelligence Test Review And Results.

Keep Living Lean.